Wikipedia:Changing username

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 Feature temporarily disabled
This feature has been temporarily disabled. Requests left below will not be acted upon until (and unless) it is reactivated.

The user name Wikipedians choose for themselves is no longer set in stone. On request, Bureaucrats can change user account settings and article histories such that all previous edits of a given user are attributed to the new name using Special:Renameuser. Note - you must make the request from the account you want renamed; anonymous requests are ignored for security reasons. (Historical note - In the past, this page was used to log requests for developers to manually change attributions and usernames. This practice has long since been discontinued by developers as being too time consuming for the few number of developers available)

See also: The Wikimedia m:Privacy Policy, m:Right to vanish

Currently, only users with fewer than 6800 edits can be renamed (edit counter). You can only be renamed to an account that does not exist. If you have very few edits, it is far quicker to just create a new account.

Contents

Requesting a change

  1. To change your user name on the English Wikipedia only, please make your request on this page.
  2. To change your user name on another Wikimedia project that has a local bureaucrat (see Special:Listusers on your wiki to check), please ask one of those bureaucrats.
  3. To change your user name on another Wikimedia project that has no local bureaucrat, please ask a steward at meta:requests for permission.
  4. Re-attribution of edits from an anonymous account to a username can not be carried out by bureaucrats. Please see Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit.

Alternatives

  • Instead of changing your name, you can change your preferences to change your signature. This will change your "public appearance" on talk pages without requiring costly changes to the database. All your edits will be attributed to the same user. Although it will be your Username and not your sig that appears in page histories, most public interaction here goes on via talk pages. If you have the desire and the patience, you can use "What links here" from your User: page to manually edit all your old signatures to use the new sig as well (probably not necessary in most cases).
  • You can simply create a new account with the desired name, and redirect your old User: and User Talk: pages to your new account. Put a note at the top of your new User: and User Talk: page to explain the change. This does not merge your contributions history; but anyone investigating the old edits will be redirected to your new one. Again, if you have the patience, you can use "What links here" from your old User: page to manually edit all your old talk page signatures to display the new sig as well, using a piped link of the form [[User:OldUserName|NewSig]]. Use an informative edit summary so that people do not think you are tampering with someone else's entry on a talk page (a definite community no-no).

Instructions

Please follow the procedure carefully or your request will not be fulfilled.

  1. Check you have fewer than 6800 edits (edit counter).
  2. Check the new name you want does not exist (Special:Listusers). Do not create an account under the new name.
  3. Sign in with the account that you want renamed.
  4. Add your request in the section below.
  5. If you are a sysop, please note this fact with your request so that the necessary changes can be made.
  6. Once your request is dealt with, all edits from your old account will be reattributed to your new account.
  7. You should check that the old account has been recreated and blocked to prevent someone else creating the account and impersonating you.
  8. You will probably want to move and redirect your userpage and talk page after changing.

Current requests

Please note that renaming users puts a large load on the database. Please do not request a rename unless it is necessary. If you have only a few edits, see the alternatives above.

Please put new requests at the end. Fulfilled requests will be immediately moved to Archive3.


  • Can someone change the dot in my username to a space? (Alynna.Kasmira to Alynna Kasmira) Thanks... Alynna 00:27, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
    • You'll have to wait for sometime. The function has been temporarily disabled. =Nichalp «Talk»= 05:44, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
  • I don't want to use my full real name anymore. Could I simply be User:Jacquelyn Marie? --Jacqui M Schedler 16:02, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
    • This feature has been temporarily disabled. However you can change your signature under preferences. Secretlondon 16:33, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
  • I would like to change this username to 'Jason Fried' which is my real name. --Jason Fried 13:11, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
    • You only have 11 edits - I'd just create the new account and use that instead. The ability to rename has been temporarily disabled anyway. Secretlondon 15:41, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Request withdrawn. Joshfist 19:35, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
  • I'd like to change the former Vrykolaka (that I chose partly because Wikipedia didn't support spaces by the time I registered) to David Latapie. I know the feature is currently disabled, I just enter the request now in order to be in th queue line, once the feature will be available again. BTW, had this feature been disabled on all Wikipedias, or only on the English one? Reply to David Latapie 00:25, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
  • I would like to change my user name from "Unabomber" to "U238" once the feature is re-opened, so that some people don't get offended. No rush on this, and thank you! Unabomber 17:17, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
  • I would like to change mine once again from "V. Molotov" to "User:Encyclopedist" because I have received complaints that my username is bordering on "username policy" Molotov (talk) e
    19:01, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
  • If/when the suspension is lifted, I would like to change my username to "User:Russell" because my current name is an embarassing hangover from when I was younger and stupider ;-) --Rkundalini 13:47, 19 October 2005 (UTC)
    • User:Russell exists but has no edits so we can't rename you to that. You can suggest a different name - or just change your signature in preferences. Secretlondon 14:02, 19 October 2005 (UTC)
      • Sorry, it did not occur to me that a user could exist without a user page. Could I please have User:Russell E then? --Rkundalini 01:49, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Please Change my name from "Baldwin.jim" to "User:Subgenius" rasblue 01:40, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
    • User:Subgenius exists but has no edits which means that we can't rename you to it. You also only have 78 edits yourself. Renaming is currently disabled - if getting a new name is important to you just make a new account and redirect your current user page to your new one. If you want to be renamed you'll have to wait and come up with another name. It is always possible that renaming won't be reactivated. Secretlondon 10:31, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Please change "RDF" to "Richard" because it's more personal. RichardRDFtalk 22:57, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Please change my account from "Mateusc" to "BrMJReview". For Anonymity purpose, I don't want use my name/initials here in the wikipedia. Thanks --Mateusc 17:29, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Please change "Mneser" to "Moxon". Thanks --moxon 23:00, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Archives

Fulfilled

Rejected/Cannot be fulfilled

Earlier archives

These archives predate the Special:Renameuser feature.

Requests from users with over 6800 edits

These requests will not currently be fulfilled; but may be in the future. See also m:Changing username for other complicated requests

  1. User:Kevin_baas to User:Kevin Baas signed: 23:18, August 16, 2005 (UTC)
  2. User:Snowspinner to User:Phil Sandifer Snowspinner 16:25, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

Requests to usurp an existing account with no edits

Occasionally, someone will request to be renamed to an account that exists (has been registered) but has not made any edits. While there is precedent for making such changes, as yet there are no guidelines for handling such requests.

  • Please delete User:Havoc, this name is registered, but no contributions were made using this name. I come from the german part of the Wikipedia using this name and want to have one identity within the Wikipedia. Thank you. (I see no reason why a member(name) that only exists on paper should not be deleted for someone with the intention to use it)de:User:Havoc 12:12, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
    • There are plans to have one sign in for all Wikipedias. This would give you one identity in Wikipedia. Someone having your name in en.wikipedia would cause problems with commons, wikisource and other cross language projects. We don't have the ability to delete user accounts anyway. Secretlondon 12:36, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
      • But this name is not used by anyone and only exists in en:wikipedia. The Username "Havoc" in commons is registered by myself, as well as "Havoc" in MetaWiki. When there is no chance of deleting it, maybe there is a chance to assume control by editing the e-mail address of this account, it would have the same effect because i don´t have an account within the en:wikipedia, yet. de:User:Havoc 16:23, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
  • Please delete "Moxons", it was only experimental. Thanks --moxon 23:02, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
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